BREAKING: RINO Senator Announces Retirement

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced Sunday that he will not be seeking re-election in 2026 just a little over 12 hours after President Trump announced that he will be meeting with primary challengers in the coming days.

Tillis, who was widely seen as one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the upcoming midterm elections cycle, drew President Trump’s ire on Saturday by voting against the White House-backed Big Beautiful Bill. In doing so, he joined Rand Paul (R-KY) as the only two Republican senators to vote against the president’s vital legislation.

“Thom Tillis has hurt the great people of North Carolina. Even on the catastrophic flooding, nothing was done to help until I took office. Then a MIRACLE took place!” Trump wrote in a follow-up post on Sunday morning. “Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER! He’s even worse than Rand ‘Fauci’ Paul!”

A few hours after the scathing post, which was the third from President Trump targeting the vulnerable incumbent since his decision to oppose the Big Beautiful Bill, Tillis announced that he will not be seeking re-election.

“As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term,” Tillis said. “That is true since the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It’s not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.”

Tillis’ retirement has largely been welcomed by the Trump base, as the senator had voted with Democrats on a number of bills that were wildly unpopular with Republicans. In 2022, he was one of 15 Republican senators to vote in favor of President Biden’s sweeping gun control bill, while he also supported legislation to codify same-sex marriage.

He also voted for President Biden’s massive infrastructure package and was a “yes” vote to confirm a number of the former president’s nominees, including Attorney General Merrick Garland. Despite this, he recently opposed the confirmation of then-interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin over his advocacy for January 6 political prisoners.

With Tillis officially out, all eyes will turn to selecting a replacement candidate. The North Carolina senate race is projected to be one of the closest, and the most expensive, in the upcoming midterm election cycle.

Former North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andy Nilsson had already filed to run against Tillis. He has positioned himself as a staunch ally to President Trump and describes himself as “unapologetically MAGA” after previously expressing concerns over the party’s direction a few years ago.

Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and former RNC co-chair, has long been floated as a candidate as well. One poll conducted by Victory Insights late last year found Lara Trump comfortably leading Tillis in a hypothetical matchup, though the president’s daughter-in-law has not yet confirmed that she is interested in running.